Teen blows roof off parents' houseFrom: From correspondents in Caister-on-Sea, NorfolkJune 05, 2006 MOST people know somebody whose teenage son or daughter has mucked up when left at home alone: crashing the car, having a wild party or making inroads into the drinks cabinet.

But English teenager Sean Davey blew the roof off his parents' house. His mother and stepfather had left the 18-year-old for a few days while they went on holiday to Scotland.

Sean's mistake was to leave a washing basket full of clothes on top of the electric stove.

A bigger mistake was to knock the stove's controls before going out, turning on one of the rings.

The heated ring set fire to the clothes, which set alight a nearby bag of shopping, which caused a can of deodorant to explode, blowing out windows and lifting the roof. All of which did #35,000 ($85,000) of damage to the house.

Advertisement:"It's ironic," his mother Joanne Bray said. "Sean didn't cook anything while we were away - he survived on microwave meals and takeaways."

Mum demands chatroom crackdown after 'rape'From: June 16, 2006 THE mother of a 15-year-old girl allegedly raped by a man she met through an internet chatroom has called on public libraries and schools to ban children from such websites.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said many unsupervised children were using online chatrooms in public libraries and schools. "You think your children are safe when they go to the library, but they are not," she said.

"It is very scary."

The woman's daughter was allegedly raped last week by a 25-year-old man she arranged to meet while using an online chat site at a suburban South Australian library.

It is alleged the man and the girl spent about 48 hours together and that she was raped during that time. Advertisement:The man, who also cannot be identified, has been charged with rape and unlawful sexual intercourse. He was granted police bail and will appear in court next month.

Many public libraries contacted by The Advertiser yesterday said they did not restrict children from using chat sites.

A spokeswoman for Marion council - which operates three libraries - said there were many good chat sites available.

"On balance, it is more important to have access to the good chat rooms and freedom of information than it is to stop the one or two people who will breach it," she said.

State Library director Alan Smith said children were allowed to use chat sites at the library if they had permission from a parent or guardian.

An Education Department spokeswoman said all schools used an internet filter which enabled them to allow or restrict certain sites.

Schools also had agreements with students to reinforce the type of behaviour that was appropriate while online.

Gallery sticks it to artistMood: luckyNow Playing: Its Art
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19486630-13762,00.html

Gallery sticks it to artistFrom: From correspondents in LondonJune 16, 2006 ONE of Britain's most prestigious art galleries put a lump of stone on display, topped by a twig, in the mistaken belief it was a work of art.

The Royal Academy included the stone and the stick in its summer exhibition in London. But the stone was actually a plinth and the stick was there to prop up a sculpture. The sculpture itself had been rejected after it was deemed unworthy of inclusion in the exhibition.

The academy explained the error by saying the plinth and the head were sent to the exhibitors separately.

"Given their separate submission, the two parts were judged independently," it said in a statement. "The head was rejected. The base was thought to have merit and accepted."

Artist David Hensel, 61, took it in stride: "It shows up not just the tastes of the selectors but also their unawareness. What pleases me, though, is that it gives a lot of people the chance to think about what art is."

Cruise victim overheard protestingNow Playing: Born to LoseTopic: World At Large
Cruise victim overheard protestingFrom: By Lisa DaviesJune 17, 2006 THESE are the last known words uttered by a mother-of-three left to die a humiliating death on the floor of a stranger's cruise ship cabin.

"I'm not like that, I don't do that sort of thing," Dianne Brimble is believed to have said loudly, just hours before her shocking death. The harrowing account of her last moments was heard in the Coroner's Court yesterday, a day her family described as a "dark day".

Mrs Brimble's family, including her eldest son Sebastian, endured a traumatic morning at the inquest as a recording of a police interview with one of the eight men implicated in her death was played to the court.

Silvestri even demanded an apology from the captain and his fellow passengers on the ship.

Mrs Brimble's former husband Mark Brimble spoke of the family's trauma at hearing the callous interview.

"I think this morning was a very dark day for the entire family," he said on the steps of Glebe Coroner's Court.

"The last 24 hours we've found extremely hard, but as every day goes past were getting closer and closer to the truth.

"Today has been excruciating and it's not getting any easier for us at all."

Mrs Brimble died on board the Pacific Sky on September 24, 2002, after boarding the ship less than 24 hours earlier. The inquest has heard allegations she was drugged with a date-rape substance called fantasy - also known as GHB - and raped before some of the eight men listed as "persons of interest" photographed Mrs Brimble engaged in sex acts with at least one of them.

In new evidence before the inquest, a woman trying to sleep in the cabin next door to where Mrs Brimble's naked body was found recalled the hours leading up to her death.

Joanne Muller, on the cruise with her husband, three children and friends, said she recalled seeing Mrs Brimble in the ship's Starlight Disco earlier that night.

She had been talking to the group of "burly" men now implicated in her death and appeared to be "drunk or under the influence of something. It seemed like she was letting loose more than other guests," Mrs Muller said.

Having left the disco at about 2am, Mrs Muller said she awoke some time later to banging, talking and a commotion next door.

When asked by counsel assisting the inquest, Ron Hoenig, what she had heard, Mrs Muller broke down.

"I heard the woman say: "I'm not like that and I don't do that sort of thing'," she said tearfully.

"They were disgusting," she said later referring to the men in the cabin next door.

A request to P&O staff that her family be moved fell on deaf ears, she said.

"Not one single person came to us to say 'are you okay?'," Mrs Muller said.

Whalers not beaten says activistsMood: happyNow Playing: Born to be FreeTopic: World At Large
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19497322-2,00.html

GREENPEACE said it would return to the Southern Ocean later this year in an attempt to have Japan cease all whaling.The proposal to introduce secret balloting failed by 33 votes to 30 while the motion on porpoises, which some conservation groups consider endangered, was also narrowly defeated – by 32 votes to 30 with one abstention.

Both items were considered key to Japan's attempt to establish a pro-whaling majority on the commission for the first time since a moratorium on commercial whaling came into force two decades ago.

Greenpeace campaigns manager Danny Kennedy said he was surprised by the result.

But he said this was no time for complacency and the federal Government should pressure Japan to give up whaling for so-called scientific purposes.

"We're very happy with the outcome overnight, obliviously it is a setback to the pro-whaling push to try to hijack the agenda of the IWC," Mr Kennedy said today.

"But we also don't want for complacency, we can't sit back now and say that's enough, we need the Australian Government to take on more action."

Mr Kennedy said Greenpeace would be going back to the Southern Ocean on board its vessel the Arctic Sunrise to meet Japanese whalers to peacefully protest at the end of the year.

"For Greenpeace we're committed to going back into the Southern Ocean and challenging them on the water because they will still be able to increase their hunt under the scientific loophole."

Humane Society International warned that conservation countries only narrowly retained the simple majority at the IWC.

"It isn't business as usual here, each vote has been too close to call," Society spokeswoman Nicola Beynon said.

"This should be a wake-up call to the public worldwide. Saving the whales is an hour-to-hour struggle at the IWC."

Budweiser made from rice: Not a Proper BeerMood: incredulousNow Playing: Soccer World Cup in Germany not using German BeerTopic: World At Large
Brouhaha over Cup brewFrom: By Roger Boyes in BerlinMay 23, 2006 IT is brown-gold and alcoholic but, then, in the scathing verdict of German beer fans, so is paint thinner.

The Germans are furious that Budweiser will be the official tipple for the soccer World Cup. The American lager has secured a near-monopoly of beer sales inside World Cup stadiums and within a 500m radius of the grounds, supplanting more than 1270 domestic breweries.

And what most upsets the fans is that Budweiser - advertised as the "King of Beers" in the US - fails to meet the ancient German standards for purity, which stipulate that beer can be brewed only from malt, hops and water.

Budweiser uses rice in its production process and therefore fails to qualify as a beer in the German sense.

Budweiser's World Cup status is a slap in the face for a country that attaches such importance to beer production. When Germany was a patchwork of principalities and duchies, a sponsored brewery was seen as the stamp of independence.

..........................Appalled...utterly appalled that German Beer is not the drink for the World Cup held in Germany.They do say sponsorship is part of the game but this is surely going beyond National Limits when another Nation gets chosen to Promote above a Local product, and Germany is the land of Beer.What an insult...I can see Germans boycotting the games...or at least boycotting drinking beer during the Cup..What a Drink-Up!!!!

Troops Take Control in DiliTopic: Australia
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19271798-2,00.html

Troops take control in DiliAUSTRALIAN troops have taken control of Dili as intensive negotiations take place to end the brutal clashes between the army and rebel soldiers and police.

With East Timor's Government paralysed and the President and Prime Minister at loggerheads, sporadic gunfire continued yesterday following Thursday's clashes, which left 15 people dead including 12 policemen.

In the biggest single Australian military deployment since the 1999 Interfet operation, almost 500 troops took to the streets of Dili, and all 1300 defence personnel are expected to be in East Timor by tomorrow.

Two Black Hawk helicopters swooped low over the outskirts of Dili late yesterday as Australian troops fanned out across the centre of the city.

"Now the Australian troops are the ones holding the reins of security," East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta declared, saying the East Timorese army would return to barracks within 48 hours after being ordered to do so by President Xanana Gusmao.

Rebels attacked the home of East Timor's armed forces commander, Taur Matan Ruak, outside Dili, and the charred bodies of a mother and her five children were found inside a burnt-out house near the airport. Four men were said to have smashed the windows of the house overnight on Thursday, poured petrol inside and set it alight.

Troops pour into E Timor

AUSTRALIAN soldiers began patrolling the streets of the troubled East Timorese capital Dili this morning as Australia accelerated its deployment of troops to restore order to the troubled nation.

Several Hercules C-130 transport aircraft landed at Dili airport early today, spilling soldiers, vehicles and supplies on to the tarmac as part of Australia's Operation Astute.

By this morning, 350 Australian troops had taken up positions in Dili and the remainder of the 1300-strong force would be in the country by the end of the weekend, Prime Minister John Howard said.

Australian troops unloaded armoured personnel carriers and other military four-wheel drive vehicles and prepared to fan out across the city, the scene of intense fighting in recent days between the military and rebel soldiers.

A squad of about 20 heavily armed soldiers then moved out of the airport on foot, heading towards the centre of the city in combat formation, spread out on both sides of the road.

The Australian guided missile frigate HMAS Adelaide arrived in Dili yesterday carrying troops, while the transport ships Manoora, Kanimbla and Tobruk also are headed for East Timor.

They will bring more armoured personnel carriers and other transport, while helicopters will ferry in more men and supplies.

Up to 1300 Australian are being sent to East Timor to prevent the nation sliding into civil war.

The deployment was speeded up yesterday as fighting in Dili intensified and the Australian government feared more bloodshed if it did not move quickly.

Late last night Australian officials braved the violent streets of Dili to seek out East Timor leaders at their homes and get signed the crucial rules of engagement under which troops would restore order.

Mr Howard said this morning the full complement of Australian troops would be on the ground in East Timor "quicker than some people might have expected.

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